Oh for heaven's sake! It's really not that bad a game!
The story is set some 15 or so years after the first Final Fight, which was set in 1989. Cody's FINALLY back although leaves the lead role in the story to his little brother Kyle. Kyle is a pretty strong lead character, sounds a lot like Solid Snake but isn't voiced by David Hayter. Cody gets kidnapped and it's up to Kyle to save him at any cost. You run into old characters like Haggar and Guy, although they play a pretty minor role, Cammy from Street Fighter also makes an appearance but only as a pit fighter. Overall the story starts good but towards the end it gets WEIRD and starts to let the rest of the game down a bit, this is really where it falls short, that and the story isn't nearly long enough.
The gameplay is good, the main story mode is a lot of fun, you get Kyle new moves, not all of which are useful but some of the earlier ones are pretty life saving. You get a whole variety of weapons, including guns and grenades that weren't available in the first Final Fights. The element of the guns distracts a bit from the fact that this is meant to be a beat em' up, but they have really limited ammo so most of the time you'll have no choice but to get your hands dirty. The fighting system is fun and easy to execute, Kyle's moves really feel like they have some power behind them and you can send multiple amounts of enemies flying all over the place. In some places there are even destructible environments, such as the bar fight at the beginning that just add to the action packed feel of the game. The gameplay is perhaps a bit lacking in the arcade mode however as even though you can play as Kyle, Cody, Guy and Haggar, their moves list is depleted and thugs can easily gain the advantage over you in numbers, none the less it's still fun.
The graphics are just FINE, I really can't see what the problem is there, the character models look superior to those in GTA: SA (though the cars are perhaps a bit lacking). The four environments in the city are quite varied, from the utter sleaziness of Kyle's hood to the nice clean streets of Japantown. There is a fairly wide variety of enemies, though like the previous Final Fights it can sometimes turn into a bit of a clone war. Fighters in the pit fights get bloody as you beat their faces in which looks cool and is mighty satisfying. Kyle, Cody, Guy and Haggar all look pretty cool in 3D (can't say I like Guy's new suit or tattoo that much though).
I ran into a few issues with slowdown on one or two occassions when too many enemies got on screen, but nothing that really got in the way of the gameplay (yeah see? THAT'S why the graphics can't be pristine).
The sound is nice, there's a fitting sound track and some talented voice actors, I thought until the end of the game that Kyle was voiced by David Hayter but that turned out to be wrong, still sounds a lot like him. Punching enemies results in the nasty sound of crunching bones which is very satisfying. There's maybe a tad too much swearing, it's quite deserving of it's Mature rating, keep this one away from your kids.
The value's okay overall, there are some bonuses to unlock and a new game+ feature, nothing much to rave about. The version of Final Fight 1 included in the bonuses isn't great, but if I wanted to play the original I'd buy the GBA or Capcom classics version, this really didn't need to be added so it's no real loss that it's a bit lack luster.
Overall I'm disappointed in the response of gamers to this title. We're starting to become a group of rather spoiled brats, Final Fight: Streetwise is perhaps not a marvel of modern gaming, but it's a title that takes us back to the days when games were just about beating the snot out of as many thugs as possible. This game could have been so much more, but it is greatly undeserving of the unfair reviews given to it.